The Importance of Project Management

Barriers and regulation. In June 1979, Mr. J. D. Peacock questioned the need for vehicle barriers at internal boundaries of limited level difference in car parks, accompanying his letter with correspondence from DOE which left no doubt that that establishment considers that there is. Our speculation on the likely outcome of a joint submission to DOE under Section 67 of the Public Health Act drew from Mr. Turner (September 1979) the point to which Mr. Peacock now responds. He writes: I should like to thank Mr. Tanner who has made the point that local authorities have a tendency to apply regulations because they are 'written' but without knowing the reason for them, and sometimes, knowing the reason, will (despite considering the regulation to be unnecessary in the particular circumstances) still insist on compliance. Verulam

The elastic critical load of a plane frame is that at which the resistance offered by the frame to any random disturbance is nil. For this state the stiffness matrix corresponding to all possible disturbances is singular. The elements of this matrix are in terms of the physical properties of the members and the modified stability functions tabulated by Livesley and Chandler. The usual method adopted is one of trial and error. A load trial is chosen, the value of the stiffness of the frame is then calculated, and the critical load is that at which the stiffness of the structure vanishes. Several load trials must be made before the critical load is predicted. S. Z. Al-Sarraf

On the basis of their recent experience, particularly with a very large contract for a chemical complex situated on the North African coast and currently nearing completion, the authors compare and contrast project management activity abroad with that at home. In so doing, the term 'construction' is taken in its widest context. C.J. Liddle and A.J. Wallace